COM Outlook Spring 2020

NOVA SOUTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY | 37 the community to translate information on signs for suicide prevention and resiliency services into Spanish, Haitian Creole, Portuguese, and other languages to help those who may need it. Unfortunately, I found that these materials never made it into the hands of the agencies providing services or, more importantly, the people who needed them.” From her years of experience designing and implementing programs for Florida’s most vulnerable populations, Cook understood that, in some cultures, the issues of mental health and mental health aware- ness weren’t topics easily discussed. In fact, she knew that for people in some communities, the stigma attached to someone in need of mental health assis- tance was so great, it stifled any chance of talking about it. As she sat at the planning table for resiliency ser- vices in Broward County, and later for suicide preven- tion, Cook recognized that Broward might not have the bandwidth to fully focus on populations that may be left behind. She also discovered she wasn’t the only one with a desire and passion to address this gap. To tackle the issue, Cook collaborated with various organizations, including Broward County Public Schools, the Children’s Services Council, and the Broward Behavioral Health Coalition. Cook then wrote a proposal that earned a six-figure, three-year grant from the Florida Blue Foundation. “What we need—what the community needs— is for us to go into neighborhoods and listen to what people have to say about the issue of behavioral health, including what they are comfortable talking about and what they aren’t,” Cook explained. “We want to start with a subtle conversation about overall wellness and how this ties into student achievement in school,” Cook explained. Cross-Agency Tools One existing resource Cook points to is the school district’s use of the ParentLink notification system to engage parents in the dialogue. The system is programmed to contain the contact information of more than 20,000 English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) families whose children attend Broward’s public schools. Messaging can now be crafted specifically for the Haitian Creole and Hispanic communities. “We are very fortunate to partner with Dr. Cook and NSU, with the intent of meeting the needs of our multilingual families,” said Victoria B. Saldala, director of the Broward County Public Schools Bilingual/ESOL Department. “Mental health issues can be caused by various factors. Many of our families fear deportation, separation of families, or the simple process of arriving to a new country with limited resources and no command of the English language. Being able to educate our families on mental health in their language and providing them with free resources available in our community will have a positive impact on their wellness as they acculturate to life in the United States.” “It truly is not a ‘one size fits all’ when it comes to this issue,” Cook emphasized. “Mental health is a public health issue, which includes everyone. Hope- fully, thanks to the Florida Blue Foundation grant, we can begin laying the groundwork and make inroads into parts of our community that other- wise may have been overlooked.” o + “What we need—what the community needs—is for us to go into neighborhoods and listen to what people have to say about the issue of behavioral health, including what they are comfortable talking about and what they aren’t.” —NICOLE COOK